Court caseAIR 1976 SC 376

A student of the LL.B. Part I course at Kurukshetra University was short of the required attendance. He filled in the examination form, which asked nothing about attendance, and the university, without checking its own records, issued him a roll number and let him sit the examination. After the examination the university discovered the shortage and cancelled his candidature on the ground that he had obtained admission to the examination by fraudulently concealing the shortage.

The Supreme Court (Fazal Ali J) quashed the cancellation. The student had made no false statement and was under no duty to disclose the shortage, which the university was itself bound to check before admitting him to the examination. Applying the Explanation to s. 17 and the Exception to s. 19, the Court held that mere silence is not fraud where the other party has the means of discovering the truth with ordinary diligence; having allowed the student to appear, the university could not later treat the admission as obtained by fraud.